If you're feeling fatigued, dealing with being overweight, or battling other health issues that don't seem to be improving, you might have a MTHFR mutation.

MTHFR is becoming more widely talked about as the importance of its role in our body's process of methylation is being studied. 

Some studies show that more than 40% of the population could have a mutation of this gene which could result in some significant health risks including, cancer, heart disease, and chronic fatigue.

Learn more about this gene mutation, how you can find out if you have it and 5 steps that you can take to improve your lifestyle and counteract the impact of this mutation on your body.

 Read the full transcript: 

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This is Laura Lummer, the breast cancer recovery coach. I'm a healthy lifestyle coach, a clinical Ayurveda specialist, a personal trainer, and I'm also a breast cancer survivor. In this podcast, we talk about healthy thinking and mindfulness practices, eating well, moving your body for health and longevity. And we'll also hear from other breast cancer survivors who have reengaged with life, and have incredible stories to share. This podcast is your go to resource for getting back to life after breast cancer.

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This is Laura Lummer. And you are listening to Episode 15 of the breast cancer recovery coach. Thank you so much for tuning in today. And I want to start off by acknowledging that the last episode The Interview with Scott Campbell about Scott's training systems and being the spouse of a survivor, the first go round on that audio didn't come out great. So if you listen to it, and you were a little disappointed as I was, know that we did go back and record that episode. That's episode 13. So Scott has such a great story to tell and so much important information that I felt it was worth it to go back and spend the time to rerecord and reproduce that episode. And so it has been updated. Please go back and check it out. He's got some great information, some great programs, great advice for breast cancer survivors and regaining their health and also just a fascinating and really compassionate and honest perspective on being spouse of a breast cancer survivor. So I hope you check that out. And I apologize for the really poor sound quality that we started off with, I admit, I'll be the first to admit that I am an amateur audio technician. And that's probably insulting to their amateurs, because I'm way worse than that. But anyway, it does sound a lot better now. And I hope you go back and take a listen and enjoy it and get some good stuff from Scott. So in today's episode, we're going to talk about something that I've been hearing a lot about lately. You know, the science of epigenetics I've talked about in previous podcasts. And it's this new and up and coming and so exciting, just these huge leaps and bounds that we're taking towards personalized medicine, personalized health care, because as we say, so many times, right, everybody's body is different. Everybody reacts differently to things. And the way that we react is dictated by our genes, right by our genetics. And it used to be that science kind of said, Okay, here's your genetics. And if these are the genes you have, this is your destiny. But then that's kind of gone out the window as the field of epigenetics has expanded. And we know that you can have all kinds of genes, but your genes aren't always turned on. So for instance, in my family, I've talked about before how we have, there's diabetes, there's quite a bit of heart disease, there's quite a bit of obesity. And knowing that that's my genetic background, I've always been very conscious about eating healthy, and exercising and doing what I can do to make sure that those genes don't get turned on, don't get activated. And then I have to start dealing with the issues that would come from that. So as this field of epigenetics expands, you know, there's some companies out there, there's something that actually had a genetic profile done for my husband for Christmas present, a couple of my sisters have done it. And the company we used to think was called 23. And mean, and what's so cool about that is not only do you get back the information they give you, you know about your heritage and whatnot. But once your profile is in there, as they continue to discover new genes and what these new genes represent, they continue to update your profile. So, you know, a new study comes out a new revelation comes out, and then they update and say, Oh, hey, by the way, we found out that, you know, this is going on with you, or that might go on with you, and some of them are silly. Some of them might be like, Okay, you genetically, you will be able to smell asparagus after you've eaten it and you go pee, you know, something as silly as that which actually was one of the results. But some of that is pretty significant. And it's indicators about maybe macro degeneration, or macular degeneration and things of that nature stuff that's kind of good to know, so that you can make sure and get what you need in your diet, and in your lifestyle, again, to help prevent some of these things from actually occurring. So today, what we're going to talk about is the NTHF our gene, we're going to talk about what that is, how it works, and what happens when it doesn't work properly. And if you're somebody who had doesn't work properly in

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And what can you do? How can you find out if you're one of those people? And then what can you do? So MTHFR stands for methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase.

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So what is NTHF are? Well, you know, the first time I heard about this, I was having lunch with a very good friend of mine. And we were talking about how she had been experiencing a lot of fatigue recently. And so much so that she was finding it hard to focus on things, she was finding it difficult to concentrate, and she was finding it difficult to take initiative on projects that she was working on, that were really important to her things she really wanted to get done. But that she felt like her brain couldn't hone in on something, you know, it's like I just, I know what I need to do. But I can't take the first step to do it. And I can't stay focused on it. And she felt like it was, it was a big enough issue that she needed to go and talk to a physician about it. And so fortunately, she goes to a great hospital, and she has physicians that are really on the cutting edge of what's going on in the medical world. And her doctor said that based on the symptoms she was having, he thought maybe she should get tested to see if she had this mutation in the NTHFR gene. So she had never heard of it. She asked me about I had never heard of it, she was about to or she was actually had done the blood test and was waiting for a result of it. So

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fast forward, she got the results. And sure enough, she had this mutation. And it was something that could be easily treated. So her doctor gave her a supplement to help her with it. And that was great. I didn't really think much more about that. I guess I'm not sure why because these are some really common symptoms, you know, the fatigue, the lack of focus on and on. But fast forward a couple of weeks, and I was at the idea world nutrition Summit, and I was listening to a presentation by Dr. Pamela peak. And here comes again, she brings up a slide and it's the MTHFR gene. And she proceeds to talk about the role that this gene has in the process of methylation in our body. And I'll talk a little bit about methylation in a minute.

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So Dr. Peake has this awesome presentation. And cheese. Bottom line is talking about how a diet and healthy lifestyle can have an impact on our genetics can turn off genes can turn on genes. And one of those processes that helps to turn on or off genes is called methylation. methylation is a it's a very complex process. So to simplify probably oversimplify, is the process of converting folate and folic acid into a type of folate that can be used by the body l methyl folate. And the example that Dr. Peake used is really fascinating. And you may have heard of it. It was a pretty well known study on these agouti mice and agouti mice genetically, are these big, fat yellow coated mice. And I say big fat because they have obesity, and they have a predisposition to disease and they typically have a very short lifespan because of that. So Randy jirtle did a study on these agouti mice, and he decided to change their diet in a way that would increase the process of methylation. And he was wondering if we increase this methylation, you know what, what's going to change? Can we make these mice any healthier. And guess what it actually did. As he improved the diet of these mice, they gave birth to baby mice who are lean, who did not have obesity, who did not have yellow coats, they had brown coats and who lived longer.

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And not only did these babies live longer, but they continue to replicate this study and generation after generation of babies lived longer, and were healthier when they adjusted their diet to better support the process of methylation. So this was really cool. And in going further into the study and looking what Randy turtle found out was that the genes that cause the parent mice to be obese and yellow and die early, were actually turned off by changing their diet, and that they stay turned off in the babies that they gave birth to. So I thought that was really exciting, really cool that you can actually change your genetics by what you eat. So I thought the second time that I've heard about this MTHFR gene I need to do a little more checking into this is really interesting. What's this all about? So as I started to look into it

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I found that the MTHFR gene was definitely played a significant role in the process of methylation. And that it was used in the regulation of gene expression. So whether your genes were turned on or turned off, and it was also an important part of intracellular detoxification, so we'll talk about that in a minute too, because that's really important. But the important part, and what this show is about is that many people in some studies show up to 40% of the population has a mutation in this MTHFR gene like my friend did. And then if you have this mutation, a lot of stuff that's not so cool can happen to you. So it actually interferes with the process of methylation in our bodies if you have this mutation. And it can lead to this long list that's including, but not limited to things like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, heart disease, blood clots, diabetes, breast cancer, migraine headaches, heart attacks. And there are a couple of different variations called alleles on this gene. And one of those variations, if you have that mutation with that variation, can really lead to high levels of a certain enzyme in our body, that can increase our chances of heart disease. Whereas another variation of it of that mutation can lead to more also cardiovascular disease, but no more neurological system kind of issues and emotional issues as well, including, you know, depression and anxiety. So that's interesting. Now, the MTHFR gene is not the only thing that can disrupt methylation. There are lots of other factors, and we're going to touch on some of those as well. And those include other genetic mutations, different drugs and medications, that you may take the level of stress that you're subjected to having a poor diet and proper diet, toxic environment, toxic exposures,

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radiation and having a lot of inflammation in your body. So all of these things can affect or disrupt this methylation, resulting in some of those unpleasant diseases or side effects that we definitely want to avoid. And of course, breast cancer being a big one. But it's not at all uncommon for a lot of women that I work with, to be suffering from deep, deep fatigue. Now, that can be related to many things. So we're just talking about this as one option, one thing for you to think about, that maybe you would be interested in talking with your doctor about. So how would you do that? If you're having some of these symptoms? If you look into this MTHFR gene, and you think, Wow, that really sounds like something that's happening to me, what can you do? Well, the very first thing you need to do is to talk to your doctor about it, the MTHFR mutation can be found very simply, through a blood test, I am actually going to put some links on my website where you find this podcast posted. Because in addition to asking your doctor for this blood test, if you don't have a regular physician, or insurance or something like that, there are actually some kits that I found online that you can buy as well, and do one of those tests at home and send it back in. And they can tell you if you have the mutation, when I was looking at well, you know, what, what are the what's the criteria here, who should actually do this test. And what I found repeatedly in many sites, and was that everyone should do it, because such a high amount of the population may have this mutation. And then once you have it, you know what you can do to fix it or to not necessarily fix it, because you can't change your genetics, it is what it is, but to work around it so that maybe you can feel not so fatigued. And there are different ways to supplement and to eat, which we'll talk about here. That will make you feel a little better if you are someone who has this mutation. So it's kind of a work around to help you have a more effective process of methylation going on in your body. I think it might be common for somebody's mind to first go to Okay, well, if I'm feeling really tired, and I might have this mutation, but I don't want to go get this test. I'll just take more folic acid, because if I have this mutation, and it kind of inhibits the breakdown and the absorption of folic acid, I'll just take more folic acid, and that's a big no, no. So I don't want you to do that. Because part of the problem is that in that changing folic acid into something that the body can actually use, you have to have the enzyme from this MTHFR gene. And if you don't have it, you can just be building up that folic acid because you can actually break it down into something your body can use. So don't run out and try to treat yourself and

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Take a bunch of folic acid supplements, okay? There are supplements that are kind of an active form of benign. But again, this is something that you really want to talk to a doctor to, I am not a doctor. So I don't want to give you that advice. But definitely check it out and find out through a blood test if this mutation is something that you have. And if so, find a doctor who really understands and knows kind of up on this whole science of epigenetics and the new information that is out on it. Again, I'll post some links with this podcast on physicians that are listed as those who are well versed in the MTHFR gene.

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So number two, what can you do? If you do have this mutation? You've gone to your doctor, you got your blood test, and you found out that you did have it. So what can you do? What steps can you take? Well, one is you can make sure that you have good gut health. This is a really interesting, um, there's so much interesting stuff out there as personalized medicine continues to grow. But more and more we hear about having a healthy microbiome. So at least 80% of our immune system is in our gut. And we know we want to have a healthy immune system, because hey, what fights cancer cells on a regular basis, a healthy immune system, along with so many other things. So having good gut health, establishing and maintaining good gut health is really important. Checking your microbiome. And here's another interesting thing. So I talked about having a genetic test done recently. Well, I found this company because I was thinking, you know, I did go through chemotherapy, and my body definitely changed after chemotherapy, how I react to food, what foods I like, what foods I don't like, and how I see how food impacts my digestion, you know, how I react to it. And so I been reading up a lot and trying different probiotics, reading studies on them, trying to find ones that are really effective. And you know, what kind of bacteria do I need to make my microbiome as healthy as possible, and I came across this website called you biome, and they send you this kit, and you do this little swab sample and send it back and they actually check the flora in your gut microbiome, then they send you this really cool report about what they found. And there's several different categories, you know, whether it's, it's obesity and heart disease and diabetes, and they're looking for bacteria that on two different fronts, one bacteria that they know, contributes or has a higher chance of contributing to some of these diseases. And two, they're looking for gut bacteria that is known to be preventative for these things. So it doesn't cost anything. Apparently, it used to cost something because I have read a lot of reviews on you biome. And I saw a lot of really crummy reviews. For people who didn't get the results back. Or maybe initially, I think it had their insurance charged for it. But I can tell you my experience I turned in my sample in August of this year 2017. It was very simple. I went online, ordered the kit had it probably in less than two weeks, sent it back and had my results in six weeks, and it didn't cost me a penny. So this whole project is really, I guess, covering the costs of everything. Now because the Microbiome Project is so big, they must have gotten funding from somewhere. So anyway, that report is really cool. So there's an option for you to check out a little bit of the health of your microbiome, that's one option. But you know, there's a simple checking in with yourself. If you know that you suffer from lots of heartburn, lots of gas, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, any of those things, then chances are you could improve the health of your microbiome. So you want to make sure and cut out things like sugar, processed foods, fast foods, these types of things that can make it really difficult for you to have good natural gut health. And the reason this is important with respect to the MTHFR gene mutation is that we may not want to increase the amount of folic acid which is the synthetic supplement in our diet, because that's going to be hard to break down if you have or nearly impossible if you have this mutation. But you do want to increase the amount of folate that's naturally found in foods, foods like leafy greens, mangoes, broccoli, avocados, spinach, romaine lettuce, lentils, good, wholesome, healthy foods. So step one, check in with your gut. How is your gut feeling? eliminate those foods that make you feel crummy or if you've been eating poorly for so long that you're not sure what it felt like to feel good? Just start cutting out that sugar cutting out that white flour and introducing more healthy leafy greens.

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means, and see if maybe you feel less fatigued or any of the other symptoms you may be experiencing. So step one, check with your doctor. If you have a mutation, check out your gut health. Step three, eliminate toxins. So we said that I said that one of the processes of methylation or one of the functions was intra cellular detoxification. Well, we live in a toxic written world, my friends, I mean, it is everywhere. And so you really have to make a conscious effort to cut down on the amount of toxic exposures you have, I find it hard to believe that anybody could eliminate every toxic exposure from their life. And I'm not even sure you would want to, right I mean, there are different things that we're not willing to give up. And that's not necessarily a problem, but looking around at the exposures that you have, and reducing them as much as possible. Because if you do have this mutation, cellular detoxification may be a challenge for you. And then that may contribute to you not feeling well. So trying to eat organic food, that's more you know, that's harmful pesticide free whenever you can, especially if it's something like fruits and vegetables, cleaning products, you know, trying to clean there are tons and tons of recipes out there on using essential oils to make cleaning solutions. And they're very, very effective. I'll do a show later on essential oils, because as a part of my or you Vedic training, herbs and essential oils are a very big part of that. And I'm a huge, huge, huge fan of them. And I know for myself, I'm extremely sensitive to many cleaning chemicals. And I know that because when I smell them, I get sick, and I get headaches and cold sweats and feel funky. So if that's something that you notice about yourself, you really want to try to be eliminating some of these toxins, that includes things that you put on your body and on your skin, things like hair color, lotion, makeup, sunscreen, and I am by no means saying don't use makeup, because girls, I love my makeup, that you know, I represent beauty counter. And I do that, because I believe in reducing the amount of toxins that I'm exposed to. And I hope to share that knowledge with other women as well. So Beautycounter is not the only line out there that is committed to producing safer cosmetics and beauty care products. So there are lots of lines do you know you can check it out or you can find another line that's good for you. That's something that you really like that's organic products, but definitely looking at the exposures you're putting on your skin with simple day to day things and and reducing that amount of toxins. Okay, number four, avoiding unnecessary medications, man, medicines in our world are who were they're just abounding everywhere. Right? Now, as cancer survivors, there are some medications that we have to have because they are necessary for us to be reducing the risk of recurrence, or for us to treat side effects from things that may have happened during treatment, you should never feel bad or guilty about that. But just be mindful and be aware of what different medications do and how these medications may affect the way that you process nutrients in your body. So I'll give you a resource for that I think is really cool. It's called, I call it my Teva. And I don't know if that's how they want it pronounced, but it's www dot m y muy TAVI en.com. This is a really cool website, you can put into it the medication that you're taking, and then you click calculate and analyzes that, and it'll tell you which medications or I'm sorry, which nutrients if any, this medication might have an effect on so maybe it'll say, you know, maybe put in metformin and it says, Okay, this will affect your absorption and use of B 12 and folic acid. So no, right knowledge is power. So especially if you have a mutation that is affecting the way that the process of methylation occurs in your body, and as a result of that you're feeling crummy, you really want to know how different medications you might be taking are impacting that as well. Another tip on that is finding a physician that is that practices functional medicine, or works with supportive treatments like complementary medicine, alternative medicine, or nutrigenomics. Now many of these physicians you're thinking oh my god, Laura, I you know, insurance and healthcare is already so crazy. Trust me. I know it's crazy out there. But I can tell you that I have found some of these physicians through the insurance that I am covered with, and I know that more and more doctors are bringing these other practitioners onto their health

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care teams. So it's always important that you know, you can trust and feel confident and comfortable, both in the knowledge that your doctor has with respect to your treatment. But if you feel like you're taking more medications than you're comfortable with, or if you look it up, and you see side effects that maybe you really don't want to have checking out physicians and the services they offer, and the niches that they function in, can be really helpful with this and finding some that may be functional a little more on the whole holistic approach to medication. Okay, so we've got check with your doctor and make sure we've got check in with your gut health, and then work on that to make sure that you can absorb all the beautiful nutrients that we're getting through the whole foods you incorporate into your diet, eliminate toxins around your house and on your body as much as you comfortably can, you know, you don't have to live like a prehistoric life, but just be aware. And then number five, one of my favorites, exercise regularly. Ladies exercise has a phenomenal impact on our bodies, it impacts methylation, and in fact, consistent exercise over time studies have shown may even be changed or genome, it can just have such a huge impact and make us feel so so so good. If you have concerns about exercise, of course, always check with your physician if you're not exercising, and you're just starting. But I you know, most of the women I work with are over 40. And so as our body ages, certain exercises aren't so great anymore as they used to be. And that's okay. Just know that because you can't do some of the you know, whatever high impact insanity, p90x stuff, and it makes you hurts too much on youth, that's alright, you don't have to do it. There are lots and lots of forms of exercises. And no matter what you choose, even if it's getting out and walking every single day at a certain pace, so you're getting your heart rate up, you're breaking a little bit of sweat, that's awesome. But your body is made to move and you've got to move it, as I have said before, and I will continue to say exercise is not an option. It's a given you must incorporate it into your life. And I believe that wholeheartedly. I'm actually working now on some upgrades to my website. So in a couple months, you'll have some downloadable exercises, I do have some videos on there right now that show you how to use the TRX suspension system. I'm a huge fan of TRX. Because I love the way that it allows you to adjust the amount of weight you apply to your body, especially to your upper body. If you've had surgeries, mastectomies, lumpectomies, that type of thing, it's very easy to adjust, it's very easy to begin at a beginner level on a TRX suspension system, and then to move up and progress through the exercises. So lots of great recommendations for that bottom line is that when it comes to this MTHFR gene and the mutation of this gene, understand it, know about it, go and check it out, because you shouldn't have to live with this, you know, chronic fatigue, or an inability to focus on the things that you enjoy in life, the inability to do them. And if you find yourself in that position, like my friend did, if you find yourself saying they're saying, I want to do these things, but I'm just too tired. I just, I just don't feel good. Know that, man. There's so many options out there now. And more and more options, and more and more discoveries are coming out daily. And as those discoveries bubble up to the surface, there's so much more that might help you. So you know, if you're paying an arm and a leg for insurance, as I know, many, many, many of us are, you know, if you have access to a physician, don't feel like you can only go when you're sick, go and you don't feel the way you want to feel, okay, know that our physicians are there to help us be healthy, not just to treat sickness. So, if you're fighting chronic fatigue, if you're dealing with diabetes, if you look up these resources on the MTHFR gene, and it relates to you, it resonates with you check it out and know that there are some easy solutions. I gave you five steps here, but there are actually many, many more steps that you can take. And as I said with my friend, she was given by her physician, a certain dosage of a very easy to find supplement. And that was the remedy for her problems. It could be as easy as that for you. So, again, be your own advocate. Don't wait till you get sick, feel as healthy as you want to feel and the resources are out there for you. If you have questions, if you have comments about the MTHFR gene, feel free to go to my Facebook page and post them or email me. My Facebook is Laura Lummer

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My email is Laura at Laura lummer.com. And I will touch for a second on beauty counter, you can go to my website and go to the shop link and look at beauty counter. But again, these products I use, because they're awesome. I especially love the face oils, because I'm really into oils and essential oils and the benefits they have for our body. What I love about Beautycounter is not only that, they have the commitment to put safer products in the hands of every woman, but that they are actively involved in changing the legislation of the cosmetic industry. We love to look good, and there's nothing wrong with that. But looking good, well endangering our health. Because companies are allowed to put toxic things into the things that make us look good and we don't know it. And they're not obligated to let us know it. That's where the problem comes in. And that's why I believe in beauty counter for the myself, for the women I love and for the women I work with. I highly encourage people to continually look for safer things to put on their bodies and to be aware of what is safe and what is not safe. So check out that link. See what you think. And if you haven't yet gone to my website and downloaded my book, The six habits of healthy happy breast cancer survivors. Please do that. You can find that book under the link for books and the download is free. So thanks again so much for listening to this episode. I'd love to hear your comments and feedback. If you enjoyed the show, please take the time to go to the iTunes Store and leave me a review. leave a rating and send me an email with what you'd like to hear what you didn't like to hear or what you'd like to hear more of. All right, we're coming up on a big month for breast cancer survival October so I've got lots of good things planned. And I look forward to talking with you again in two weeks and until then remember, let your lifestyle be your medicine. You've put your college to the test laid all your doubts

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your mind is clearer than before your heart is full and wanting more your futures

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given all you

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know

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you been waiting on

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this